Five quick takes: Why Green couldn’t pull off another clutch deed

In Wednesday’s victory in Orlando, Danny Green’s frantic jump at Orlando’s J.J. Redick caused him to hesitate just enough that his game-winning shot at the buzzer was released a fraction late to enable the Spurs to escape with an overtime victory.

But as Green had his own chance Friday night to make a game-tying offensive play, a frantic late game defensive alteration by Sacramento center DeMarcus Cousins caused Green to pull up just short when he was a similar situation.

Cousins made a subtle defensive adjustment covering Green to force him to alter his final shot. The presence of the massive 6-foot-11, 270-pounder made Green hesitate. His final shot merely grazed the bottom of the net, allowing Sacramento to escape with an 88-86 victory.

“Cuz did the right thing,” Sacramento coach Keith Smart said. “He read the situation and jumped out just enough to cause Green to go out maybe one foot more so his floater went up he was that much away from the basket.”

If that jump hadn’t been made, Smart had a pretty good idea what might have happened.

“Had he not gotten there and kept giving ground, he runs right to the basket lays it up and the bucket goes in,” Smart said. “But Cuz is a thinker and knows what is going around him. He got out and covered the dribble handoff.”

And on Friday, that change placed Green on the wrong end of the final play after his similar adjustment on Wednesday helped his team win.

“I’ll have to look at the video. It might be something I can learn from,” Green said. “Pop trusted me again, and I hope I get another chance another time, but it’s a lesson learned.”

Here are a few other takes from the Spurs’ first home loss of the season.

I’m wondering if we might have seen the Spurs of 2014 on the court in the fourth quarter with no Tim Duncan for all but six seconds and Manu Ginobili watching in street clothes from behind the bench . Gregg Popovich employed a lineup of Tony Parker, Green, Tiago Splitter, Richard Jefferson and Gary Neal for most of the final quarter. That led a comeback before faltering at the end. Could it be the nucleus of the team without Duncan and Ginobili after their retirements?

If the Spurs had escaped with a victory Friday night, I would have expected Popovich to rest some of his players on Saturday’s back end of a back-to-back in Houston. But Duncan played only 24:50 and Parker was the only Spurs player with more than 30 minutes. It should give Popovich leverage to use most of his players against the streaking Rockets, who have won five straight games and lost only once at home this season. One of their victims was the Spurs, who were pounded in a 105-85 loss Dec. 29 at the Toyota Center.

The Spurs’ loss will resonate across the league as Sacramento claims only its second road victory of the season. But Smart has done a good job of building the nucleus of a young team. Cousins and forward Jason Thompson were coverage nightmares for the Spurs early in the game because of their athleticism, sparking a quick Kings lead that made the Spurs play on their heels most of the game. The Kings have already beaten the Lakers and Indiana this season and will be a tough opponent as the season progresses.

Tyreke Evans was mired in a miserable shooting slump coming into Friday’s game, hitting only 21.2 percent from the field and averaging 6.7 points in his last three games. But when he’s on his game, he’s an effective player who can fill a box score. Fantasy players already know this, but Evans could be a building block who will contribute to the Kings’ development in many different ways. And he’s only 22.